ABSTRACT
Recent research has pointed to the fact that advertisers often spend millions of dollars annually on celebrity endorsers, with the aim of influencing consumers’ perceptions andpurchase intentions (Tripp, Jensen,&Carlson, 1994). This stream of research has established that, among other things, celebrities make advertisements believable (Kamins, Brand, Hoeke, & Moe, 1989), aid in the recognition of brand names (Petty, Cacioppo, & Schumann, 1983), enhance message recall (Friedman & Friedman, 1979), create a positive attitude towards the brand (Kamins et al., 1989), and create a distinct personality for the endorsed brand (McCracken, 1989). Ultimately, celebrity endorsements are believed to generate a greater likelihood of customers choosing the endorsed brand (Heath, McCarthy, & Mothersbaugh, 1994; Kahle & Homer, 1985; Kamins et al., 1989; Ohanian, 1991), and messages delivered by wellknown personalities achieve a high degree of attention and recall for some consumers. Agrawal and Kamakura (1995) concluded that, on average, the impact of the announcements of celebrity endorsement contracts on stock returns is positive and suggested that celebrity endorsement contracts are generally viewed as a worthwhile investment in advertising. Given this information, one can safely argue that celebrity endorsements are here to stay.
